Thank you, Mr. Samson.
Of course, protecting language rights in Canada is a priority. That is why the Minister of Justice and myself announced that funding would be restored for the Court Challenges Program, to support both language rights and fundamental rights protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The objective was to stabilize the funding and adopt a broader, more general approach, and ultimately to support the groups that defend language rights. The purpose is essentially to ensure that the federal government and all of the governments in our country respect their obligations.
We feel that the Court Challenges Program is a logical extension of the protection of the language rights that are included in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and are thus in the Constitution, and are also present in the Official Languages Act, a quasi-constitutional act.
That is why I had the opportunity of making that announcement. We are at this time finalizing the various details to implement the Court Challenges Program. I hope that the groups that advocate for official languages in Canada will be able to mobilize and get organized in order to promote and defend language rights.